mysteriesofmercia
The King & Queen Stones
Framed by oak, horse-chestnut and bramble, these ancient stones stand almost hidden on the southern slopes of Bredon Hill in...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Sep 12
- 1 min
A Saint’s Journey in Stone
So here is the rather odd font inside the Church of the Holy Cross that tells the tale of St Bertram. To say it's crudely carved would be...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Sep 12
- 2 min
The Shrine of a Mercian Saint
The shrine of St Bertram at the Peak District village of Ilam is a rather special structure known as a "formina". It was built and set...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Sep 12
- 2 min
The Incredible Secrets of Castro de Sabroso
I'm in Portugal at the moment, but it's not all sun and Super Bock. The north of the country has a multitude of megaliths, hillforts and...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Aug 30
- 1 min
The Clever Daughter and the Green Men
A Green Man smirks from a misericord in Worcester cathedral. He and his "brother" were probably carved around 1380 and they flank a...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Aug 20
- 1 min
The Haunted Ruins of Throwley Old Hall
Throwley Old Hall is a ruined mansion dating from the early 1500s, brooding over the Peak District landscape from its hilltop location...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Aug 14
- 1 min
Mystery of Mercia - Book 1 & 2
As summer rolls out across the Midlands, get some inspiration for visits to the more mysterious parts of the region with The Mystery Of...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Aug 14
- 1 min
The Bride Hands
These carved hand shapes date from the early 1700s and are inside the porch at St Peter's in the Worcestershire village of Little...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Aug 8
- 2 min
The Tibblestone - A Modest Megalith
Drivers pulling in to this Gloucestershire garage for a Subway or a Costa coffee might not notice that a Neolithic standing stone is...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Jul 28
- 1 min
A “Real” Crop Circle
Crop circles are a rarity in the Midlands area, so when a beautiful example appeared in a Worcestershire wheat field I had to...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Jul 19
- 3 min
The Horrifying Humber Stone
A mangled block of stone lies in a small field in Leicester, between a branch of KFC and a housing estate. People walk past it everyday,...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Jul 5
- 1 min
Kinnersley Castle and the Strangled Boy?
I spotted this bizarre sculpture above a fireplace inside Kinnersley Castle, Herefordshire. It appears to be a boy being choked by a...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Jun 12
- 2 min
A Church That Was Sacred Before It Was Built
While there are plenty of churches in England built on ancient pre-Christian sites, just a few miles over the border into Wales I...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Jun 12
- 2 min
The Devil’s Den
I swung just a little south of the Midlands to find some of the less visited places within the Avebury world heritage area, and took a...
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mysteriesofmercia
- May 21
- 1 min
The Witch Pond
This rather slimy pond on a farm at Rushock in Worcestershire has been in existence for at least 500 years, and in 1660 it was used to...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Apr 12
- 3 min
The Esoteric Maze of Rowtor Rocks
Rowtor Rocks is one of the strangest places in the Midlands. Standing on the edge of the Derbyshire village of Birchover, this is a...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Apr 9
- 2 min
When Four Stones Become Nine
The Derbyshire Peak District boasts several impressive stone circles, and I feel this one deserves more attention than it gets. This is...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Apr 3
- 3 min
The Last Ducking in England
An infamous relic of the past lies in a corner of the Priory church in the Herefordshire town of Leominster. This is one of the very few...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Mar 27
- 1 min
A Strange Centaur
I think this is possibly the weirdest thing I've ever seen in a village church. An extremely crude carving of a centaur, guarded by a...
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mysteriesofmercia
- Mar 20
- 5 min
The Oddingley Murders
A longer read for Sunday, this is a true crime tale from Worcestershire. Today most priests and vicars are paid a salary by their...
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